There were also numerous high profile endorsements, but some of those stepping up to back Mr Cruz looked like they were having their teeth pulled.

Mitt Romney said he would vote for Mr Cruz but couldn't bring himself to utter the word "endorsement". Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator, did endorse him but compared it to taking poison over being shot.

The best he could say about Mr Cruz was that at least he would "not destroy the party".

Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, waited until a few days before Tuesday's crucial vote to offer his support, but in doing so managed to utter kinder words about Mr Trump than he could muster for Mr Cruz.

The failure of the party to effectively rally around Mr Cruz stemmed from 2013 when he led a group that shut down the federal government in an attempt to defund Obamacare, leading to a bitter public reaction against the Republican Party.

It infuriated the leadership and in the presidential race Mr Cruz was initially viewed as an iconoclastic outsider candidate.

Ted Cruz signs a campaign poster after suspending his White House campaign.Credit:
Reuters

He delivered a blistering populist message, railing against the corrupt "Washington cartel," threatening carpet bombing in Syria, and vowing to defend to the death the right to carry guns.

He wore his Christianity on his sleeve, delivering speeches that were more like sermons and championing the right to life.

Mr Cruz won in deeply religious Iowa, the first state to vote.

But before long it was Mr Trump who tapped into anti-Washington sentiment across the country.

Those disillusioned with their government and party, military families and veterans, gun enthusiasts, and even evangelical Christians, flocked to Trump rallies.

In the beginning the Republican establishment had assumed that Jeb Bush would be the nominee and represent their interests, but he was knocked out early after a lackluster campaign.

People who had known Mr Cruz throughout his life queued up to offer character assassinations. His former room-mate at Princeton said: "I would rather have anybody else be the president. Anyone. I would rather pick somebody from the phone book."

Ironically, Mr Cruz's finest moment came on what turned out to be the final day of his campaign.

After Mr Trump had falsely suggested his father Rafael was somehow connected to the assassination of President John F Kennedy, Mr Cruz was enraged.

He threw caution to the wind in Indiana and launched into a spontaneous and extended rant in which he dissected Mr Trump's personality, calling him "utterly amoral" and a "pathological liar".

It was a tour de force. Had he done it a month ago he might still be in the race.